The following post contains spoilers for Severance 206, “Attila.”
There’s a new queer in Kier! Last night’s Severance episode may have just confirmed what we’ve been anticipating: This show is gayer than we thought! Devon, played by out queer actress Jen Tullock, not only reveals she had a crush on a straight woman, but a straight woman who turned out to be a completely different person than she had hoped. What sapphic can’t relate?
I know this sounds like we’re accepting scraps of representation here, but I actually find this very exciting. In its very essence, Severance is queer. It’s anti-establishment, pro-worker, and features a beautiful gay love story between Burt (Christopher Walken) and Irv (John Turturro). But now the gay girls have their own little win.
Recently, due to the hype around Severance returning for season two, Jen Tullock got an influx of TikTok followers — much to her surprise. Shortly after fans discovered her on the app, she posted a video explaining New York vocal fry to her wife with the caption “My Swedish wife studying the many nuances of American trad girl speech.” It’s now the second highest viewed video on her page and, as expected, the comment section is filled with screaming sapphics.
The following week, Tullock attended a New York Fashion Week show alongside none other than Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris. And, like many of our other favorite celesbians, Tullock shared the cutest Valentine’s Day post with her wife serving femme4femme cuteness.
*spoilers for Severance 206 start here so proceed with caution*
So, what happened in “Attila” that has sapphic Severance fans so excited? Well, if you remember back in season one, while at Damona Birthing Retreat, Devon meets another pregnant woman named Gabby Arteta while desperately searching for coffee. Gabby lets her into her cabin and makes her a cup (Ricken could never!). They chat about their pregnancies, reveal baby names and, while a bit awkward, share a nice moment away from their respective stress around their impending labor.
Later, Devon runs into Gabby at a park, both wearing their newborn babies. The catch: Gabby has no idea who Devon is, and her baby has a different name than the one revealed at the retreat. It’s then that the audience learns that Gabby is severed and it was actually her innie that Devon met. This information grows more and more disturbing the more you think about it and realize that Gabby, a mother of three, uses her innie to give birth to her children.
Devon eventually looks Gabby up on Facebook, seemingly the only social media that exists in the Severance universe, and learns she is the wife of Angelo Arteta, a pro-severance state senator. This was the beginning of Devon’s interest in the “corporate espionage” she has been participating in with her brother Mark.
Flash-forward to Season 2 Episode 6, when Devon goes to Mark’s house for more troublemaking and references the rich lady she met from “baby camp.” To freshen Mark’s memory, she adds, “The one I, like, had a crush on?”
We love a casual bisexual reveal. During this scene, my girlfriend and I perked up on our couch, turned to each other, and silent-screamed. Aside from the excitement of having another queer in the show, it’s fun to watch Devon evolve from a severance skeptic to fully ready for a revolution. I can’t help but now think her queerness gives her an instinct to rebel against the man. I’m already waiting around each week for Thursday to come, but now I’m eager as fuck to see her increasingly contentious relationship with Ricken unfold and see what role her queerness plays in her character development, if any.
It’s clear that one of the most-watched shows in the U.S. is getting more and more queer by the week. So if you’ve been waiting for that queer representation, now’s the time to tune in!
The way my ears perked up like a dog when she said that! How did Ricken manage to marry Devon anyway? He’s so far beneath her!
literally!!!!! I don’t know how far deep you are in Severance-fan-theory-tiktok, but there’s a ton of talk about Ricken not being who we think he is. The more I think about it, the more I realize we’ve never really seen them be very intimate? Of course they have Eleanor, but outside of that their relationship seems more like a business transaction– further evidenced by his snarky remark in 205 when he’s all “oh so me selling millions of copies of my books isn’t as enticing as you used to think?” or whatever. Also, I think he’s a goat!